Three Sisters Sanctuary

While visiting Erin in western Massachusetts, we had an afternoon with no particular plans and decided to do what we often enjoy and head out and see what we might discover. That afternoon led us to Three Sisters Sanctuary in the small town of Goshen, a place unlike almost anywhere else we had visited.

Three Sisters Sanctuary is the creation of environmental artist Richard M. Richardson, who has lived on this property since the 1970s. He began developing the sanctuary in the 1990s, gradually transforming the land into an eight-acre combination of sculpture garden, perennial garden, and outdoor art environment. He named it Three Sisters in honor of his three daughters, who were born and raised on the property and have participated in its evolution.

There is a more personal story behind its creation. Richardson began the project while dealing with the illness and death of his brother Chuck in the early 1990s. The sanctuary became a way of working through grief by creating something from the landscape. Later, the death of his eldest daughter, Tina Marie, in 2003 added another deeply personal layer to the gardens. Richardson has continued to describe the sanctuary as a place where art and nature can provide healing, reflection, and connection. 

Walking through it is difficult to describe because there is no single style. Paths lead from one outdoor “room” to another, filled with standing stones, mosaics, metal sculptures, glass, gardens, water features, found objects, and wonderfully unexpected creations. More than 200 standing stones are incorporated into the landscape, along with a labyrinth, stone amphitheater, fairy house, and the enormous mosaic Dragon’s Den.

Richardson considers himself an environmental artist, using the land itself as part of his work. Stone, plants, water, trees, and changing seasons are as much a part of the sanctuary as the sculptures. Other artists have contributed pieces as well, so the property continues to change and evolve.

There is even another collection on the property. Richardson is the proprietor of the Good Time Stove Company, and an Antique Stove Museum displays historic stoves as examples of both craftsmanship and functional art.

What I remember most is simply how unexpected it all was. We wandered through a landscape where almost every turn revealed something different—some whimsical, some beautiful, some a little unusual, and some clearly very personal to the artist who created it.

We hadn’t set out that afternoon looking for Three Sisters Sanctuary. We simply had some time to explore western Massachusetts and ended up discovering it. Those unplanned discoveries are often part of what I enjoy most about exploring. You take a road you haven’t traveled before, stop at a place you didn’t know existed, and come away having experienced someone else’s very personal creation.